National School Championships

A review | National KS3 & KS4 Schools Competition 2024/25

The NBC once again played host to the National Schools Finals! 4 events, 32 teams, 8 theme songs, medals and trophies to be won and every game live streamed on YouTube.

The girls took to court on Saturday, with defending champions in both events Kendrick School looking to retain their titles. The girls events were hotly contested and saw a new champion in KS3 with Loughborough High led by Mutiara Mandala taking the gold medal, beating Nonsuch in the final, equalling their silver medal from 2023/24. The bronze medal was won by Pate’s Grammar School.

The KS4 final went down to the final game as Colchester County High School for Girls edged Dame Alice Owen’s 3-2. A fabulous win for Colchester having finished just outside of the medals in 2023/24. Tapton once again took bronze medals back to Sheffield with a hard-fought win against King Edwards VI High School for Girls.

On Mothering Sunday, the boys began their quest for medals. Reading School, last years bronze (KS3) and gold (KS4) medallists proved too strong and went home with gold medals in both events. In the boys’ KS3 Reading School defeated King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford 4-1 in the final, Watford Grammar School for Boys rounded off the podium spots.

It was double success for Reading School as their boys KS4 team also clinched gold, defeating Parmiter’s School in a closely fought 3-2 win. Jimmy Bilek and Nived Neelakandan claimed the decisive third win 21-16 in their doubles match. Wilson’s School (last years silver medallist) took home the bronze.

Last year we introduced the regional trophy which was presented to South Central, however, this year, it was presented to London and South East due to the successful medals in all 4 events.

Young People Manager Louise Hewitt resides over the event, once the trophies had been presented Hewitt commented “what a brilliant weekend, full of colour, smiles, skill and passion, I can’t wait for 2026!”

A review | National KS3 & KS4 Schools Competition 2023/24

Following the entry of over 700 teams we were delighted to stage a fantastic Finals weekend for the Badminton England National Schools Championships 2023/24.

The National Badminton Centre was privileged to host an exciting weekend of competitive badminton on both Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st April as the returning National Schools Championships reached its climax.

After some inspiring performances across both days, the KS3 and KS4 Boys and Girls were crowned champions at the home of Badminton England in Milton Keynes. Congratulations to Reading School and Wilson’s School who won the boys tournaments and Kendrick School who won gold in both age groups in the girls competition!

Young people are an integral part of our new 10-year strategy for badminton in England and we wanted to ensure that the pupils themselves were at the heart of the Championships from its start to the finish with the Finals last weekend.

So, in collaboration with Babolat – Official Supplier to the National School Championships – all schools who participated in the regional rounds of the competition were invited to design a flag to represent their region. The flags were designed to celebrate the values of badminton; Do what matters, Include intentionally, Play for each other and Do today brilliantly. These values are the heartbeat of what we at Badminton England aim to do every day in enabling badminton to be a sport for everyone. The flag design competition was also a wonderful opportunity for pupils from schools competing in the Championships to create a real identity for their region – with a design that speaks for their part of the country and a colour for them to compete under.

In support of the new initiative, our partners Babolat vowed to reward the winning school with a visit from a Babolat badminton ambassador who will join the school for an assembly followed by an exclusive badminton coaching session for the whole school! And we are delighted to announce that 14 year-old Ruth Biju Mathews, a pupil from Year 9 at Webber Independent School, was chosen as the overall winning designer on behalf of the South Central region.

East Midlands, designed by Lucy Watson from Kesteven and Grantham School, came in second place with team East earning bronze in the competition courtesy of a flag designed by Presdales School.

The regions weren’t just represented visually at the weekend though! Again giving the young people at the core of the competition a leading role, the pupils of the schools involved were asked to select an anthem from a shortlist of songs written or performed by artists from their own region. The anthems were played when players took to court as well as during the trophy presentations. The three times victorious (KS3 girls, KS4 girls and KS4 boys) South Central team chose Figure it Out by Royal Blood. London and the South East school, Wilson’s received their medals to Right Here, Right Now by Fatboy Slim.

And the focus on young people continued off court! Not only were the competing athletes all school pupils…but 15 young men and women from our Young Leaders Academy took to the umpire’s chair, making the difficult decisions as the match officials across the two days of competition.

Thank you to all the schools who took part in this year’s competition and the schools below who all took part in the Finals weekend in Milton Keynes.

We are already looking forward to the 2024-25 competition!

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